diplomacy
Zelenskyj for talks in Turkey
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. photo
© Efrem Lukatsky/AP/dpa
Ukrainian President Zelenskyj travels to Turkey for talks. Ankara recently offered itself again as a mediator with war enemy Russia.
The presidential office in Kiev confirmed the visit and talks for a possible peace solution. From a Ukrainian perspective, the planned peace summit in Switzerland, the safety of shipping in the Black Sea and the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war were mentioned as priorities.
Zelensky also visited a shipyard with warships under construction for the Ukrainian Navy. Two corvettes are under construction in a shipyard in Istanbul. Including the new flagship “Hetman Ivan Masepa”, which is scheduled to be completed this year. Further meetings with representatives of the Turkish defense industry are planned.
Talks about continuing the grain agreement
Ankara also intends to talk about the continuation of the so-called grain agreement, it said. These are Russian security guarantees for Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea. Turkey and the United Nations brokered the deal.
However, after the agreement expired last summer, Kiev set up its own corridor along the coastline through which freighters could safely call at Ukrainian ports. The Russian Black Sea Fleet had previously been pushed out of the western part of the Black Sea, primarily through naval drone attacks. According to Kiev, sea exports from the three ports around the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa had already returned to pre-war levels in January.